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I bought a foreclosure for house $24k 2 bedrooms and 2 bathroom in a middle income neighborhood. Rented the other room and turn the living room into a music studio.
Keep in mind this was the beginning post house bubble.
I bought a foreclosure for house $24k 2 bedrooms and 2 bathroom in a middle income neighborhood. Rented the other room and turn the living room into a music studio.
Keep in mind this was the beginning post house bubble.
Before I retired, every property we bought was 'distressed'. Every one of them was a Multi-Family-Residence. Every one of them provided my family a home, plus 2 to 4 rental units. Some had a neutral cash balance each month and some had a positive cash flow starting the very first month of ownership. We did it in the 1980s and 1990s.
We have been trying to help one of our son's, looking for a home. I logged onto Zillow last year and did a few searches. Now Zillow sends me search results every week, homes in my area under $30k.
My daughter-in-law's parents [different son] rent a nice 3bdrm house for $400/month, in a nice low crime town.
These 'deals' do not generally happen in high COL areas, and I would avoid them in high crime areas.
For those who are working minimum wage jobs (or close) which do not require a degree, AND are living comfortably enough, how do you get by?
Some examples of answers could be....
Do you do anything unique or creative? Maybe include such as...
Do you own your home?
What do you do for a living?
What is your retirement outlook?
Will you continue to live similarly, better or worse? assets?
What do you do for medical care? do you have a health plan?
Goes without saying if you do not want to answer, no problem.
OR If this thread not appealing, please just allow the participants the ability to discuss the topic, unhindered, thank you
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We get by like anyone else- live within your means.
we own a home
He works a 9-5 job and i nanny
retirement looks a long time from now
similar living later in life
we dont have medical care until later this year with open enrollment.
we have 5 people on 1 income ( less than 40k/yr). NO government help!
We get by like anyone else- live within your means.
we own a home
He works a 9-5 job and i nanny
retirement looks a long time from now
similar living later in life
we dont have medical care until later this year with open enrollment.
we have 5 people on 1 income ( less than 40k/yr). NO government help!
It's all good.
I don't deduct points if someone is on government help or I'd be deducting it for everyone because we all are, on gov't help, for something.
But FTR, I only had one child who attended public school so we've not used the govt for help quite as much as others.
I can tell you from experience - not my own but from friends - that one cannot really "make it" on minimum wage. It's only possible if you live what for most would be considered a "sub-standard" living.
People who immigrate to the U.S. for example. Maybe they were teacher or doctor even in their country but in the U.S. they are not qualified and it takes 4-8 years of college here to get back to where they were, professional wise.
So let's say you take a job at the 99 cent store or some other retail store job where it's sometimes easy to get a min. wage job.
At $10/hour you would make $1600 a month, gross. You would bring home around $1300. In Los Angeles you cannot get rent for less than $600 a month unless you live in the worst ghetto, and even at $600 you'll have 2-3 roommates and probably just a small room and a shared bathroom. Sound like fun?
So you have a big $700 left over after rent, but out of that comes food, utilities - phone, internet, shared elec, shared gas, shared cable and etc at the house or apartment you have a room in. Even if you only spend $400 a month on food, that leaves $300. Very hard to live on $400 a month on food but okay... you do what you have to do, right?
$100 of that $300 goes to phone, internet etc.
Now you are down to $200.
Can you save money to buy a car? No.
Can you afford to operate a car? No.
How much is a bus ticket for unlimited usage in Los Angeles? I seem to recall it's over $100 a month. There you go.
Great life, huh?
Even if you're a kid going to college and you have no help from parents... it's hard to live on min. wage, especially if you can't really afford to work full time and go to college. You'll probably have to go less than full time to college to manage it.
I can tell you from experience - not my own but from friends - that one cannot really "make it" on minimum wage. It's only possible if you live what for most would be considered a "sub-standard" living.
People who immigrate to the U.S. for example. Maybe they were teacher or doctor even in their country but in the U.S. they are not qualified and it takes 4-8 years of college here to get back to where they were, professional wise.
So let's say you take a job at the 99 cent store or some other retail store job where it's sometimes easy to get a min. wage job.
At $10/hour you would make $1600 a month, gross. You would bring home around $1300. In Los Angeles you cannot get rent for less than $600 a month unless you live in the worst ghetto, and even at $600 you'll have 2-3 roommates and probably just a small room and a shared bathroom. Sound like fun?
So you have a big $700 left over after rent, but out of that comes food, utilities - phone, internet, shared elec, shared gas, shared cable and etc at the house or apartment you have a room in. Even if you only spend $400 a month on food, that leaves $300. Very hard to live on $400 a month on food but okay... you do what you have to do, right?
$100 of that $300 goes to phone, internet etc.
Now you are down to $200.
Can you save money to buy a car? No.
Can you afford to operate a car? No.
How much is a bus ticket for unlimited usage in Los Angeles? I seem to recall it's over $100 a month. There you go.
Great life, huh?
Even if you're a kid going to college and you have no help from parents... it's hard to live on min. wage, especially if you can't really afford to work full time and go to college. You'll probably have to go less than full time to college to manage it.
Reread my post waaaaay back.
We have 3 incomes...MOH has two part time jobs just slightly above minimum wage and only averages 30 hrs a week between them. I get $1k a month SSDI. our income this year is forecast to be less than last years...clocking in at $26,500 this year down form $32500 because of cost cutting MOH had hours cut at main job.
. We ARE doing it, but we DON'T live in Los Angeles for a reason! The area has a stable albeit low economy, based on minimum wage unless you are a lawyer or work for the hospitals.
I have worked at temporary part time jobs which I cna do, and am looking at going back full time.
We own our house, and are on track to have it paid off VERY early in the mortgage, no it was NOT a dump and needed little if anything to move in, though we went a bit overboard updating it for our own good. It IS a "starter 2 br home in a great neighborhood. I drive a paid for 2006 Minivan, and we bought a brand new '14 Hyundai Elantra for MOH in March 2014 for CASH {$16K}. Yes it took years to do it,and will take years til we have enough to replace either vehicle.
We go on a nice vacation {planning to visit Hawai'i again in fall 2018, but it takes 8 years to save for such} once in a while.
We don't have a million dollar portfolio, but we do have retirement, we have CDs for security and have some well chosen stocks. Our retierment should be no different than now.
It's all how you value and use money, not what/how much you have.
We don't have children, by firm choice, so we don't have to support them. but your senario doesn't seem to include children.
If we had to, we'd rent out the other BR to someone in need of cheaper housing in a nice area.
We plan to pick up a rental or two in our chosen retirement place in the south when this house is paid for and rent them out until we make the move. Rentals will help fund our retirement.
We will inherit quite a sum if our remaining fathrs dropped dead right now wihtout having to burn tthrough it. We will inherit 4 properties, to be sued as rentals also until we liquidate here in favor of the south.
No, people like you, poster could not live on it, but you don';t have to now do you?
Oh , and we spend $80 at the grocery store twice a month on food-so $160, NOT $400!!!, and grow a lot in our yard garden, my hobby. We eat out once or twice a month, usually saved for a "medical day" when we have to be at the hospital or run for appts.
It can be done if you value and use money very well, not let it use you!
I can tell you from experience - not my own but from friends - that one cannot really "make it" on minimum wage. It's only possible if you live what for most would be considered a "sub-standard" living.
People who immigrate to the U.S. for example. Maybe they were teacher or doctor even in their country but in the U.S. they are not qualified and it takes 4-8 years of college here to get back to where they were, professional wise.
So let's say you take a job at the 99 cent store or some other retail store job where it's sometimes easy to get a min. wage job.
At $10/hour you would make $1600 a month, gross. You would bring home around $1300. In Los Angeles you cannot get rent for less than $600 a month unless you live in the worst ghetto, and even at $600 you'll have 2-3 roommates and probably just a small room and a shared bathroom. Sound like fun?
So you have a big $700 left over after rent, but out of that comes food, utilities - phone, internet, shared elec, shared gas, shared cable and etc at the house or apartment you have a room in. Even if you only spend $400 a month on food, that leaves $300. Very hard to live on $400 a month on food but okay... you do what you have to do, right?
$100 of that $300 goes to phone, internet etc.
Now you are down to $200.
Can you save money to buy a car? No.
Can you afford to operate a car? No.
How much is a bus ticket for unlimited usage in Los Angeles? I seem to recall it's over $100 a month. There you go.
Great life, huh?
Even if you're a kid going to college and you have no help from parents... it's hard to live on min. wage, especially if you can't really afford to work full time and go to college. You'll probably have to go less than full time to college to manage it.
While the focus of personal finance tends to be on frugality in consumption, a lot of people are getting by on low incomes through various sorts of freebies and discounts.
For example, many minimum wage earners "get by" through living with parents or others, and paying discounted or no rent at all. I live in an overcrowded house where, by my estimate, 6 people are paying rent and 5 people are living in the house for free. Pretty easy to get by on minimum wage if you pay nothing for housing.
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- and my drug of choice is caffeine.
